Wichita eagle., 1887-05-22
THE LOST MADONNA.

terested me, and whom l came 10 KNOW
well. The enjoyment Of ownership, was
saying, was greatly enhanced by the sac
rifices which had been necessary to get the
prize. This pleasure had to be cut OF,
that necessity dispensed with and so many
hours Of precious time devoted to getting
money by repulsive work. The price had
been paid sum by sum, until now l was
full owner of one Of the most beautiful
creations of the day. In describing how
wonderfully the artist had felt the modu-
lation Of the earth in the bare Newport
pasture, how poetical was the colorlng
and the lonely look of the wide fields, how
ancient and spectral the apple orchard on
the right, with its messy trunks and thick
limbs writhen by salt winds, spllntered
BY coats of ice in the long winters, L had
forgotten to name the workman. Even
when came to speak of the sea distance
melting with the most glorious colors into
a mysterious horizon, half mist, half sky
line, and the sky itself of that indetermin-
able blue which is green, or of green that
Is blue, Just as you happen to see it first
aven then had not uttered his name.
"You are not likely to know it," an
swered when my hostess inquired; mot
q very distinctive one at best Henry
Brewn."
Mrs. Van Gorden dropped her spoon in
ths soup as If she had burned her tongue,
bent her head down and raised her napkin
to her mouth.
"What sort Of a fellow is he?" asked
Gorden in that hearty bass Of his, whirl-
Ing his silky beard aside with gesture
that stamped him to his friends in any
crowd, however big.
"As queer as they make them" said l.
"Eancy tall, lean man, with long feat
ures, q long hand, a cynical look that
DESTROYS what must have been once great
physical beauty, absolute carelessness Of
dress without any slOvenliness, the most
haunting eyes that you have ever seen.
About the fine arts, by which he lives, or
rather sterves, he has ideas-or, perhaps
It is truer to say, utters sentiments-most
repulsive to those who love artistic crea-
lions. 1t is all humbug, according to him,
and he processes to be tn a state OF per-
petual wonderment how people can be
found SO foolish as to exchange gold dol
lars for daubs Of paint. At the same time
he acknowledges that it is his interest to
continue the deception, for otherwise the
starvation which he now calls relative
would become absolute. Not that he con-
siders his life worth anything; but his an
cestors, having bequeathed to him an in
stinct of self preservation, sway and over
ride his common sense sc far as to compel
him to struggle just enough to exist"
I had turhed naturally to Mrs. Van
Gorden rather than my friend during
these remarks, for that lady has quiet
way of exacting from the comrades of her
husband not Difference merely, but strict
attention. | never met woman who did
this more simply and effectually without
seeming to intend it. Husband end guests
must make her the center; woe betide
anybody who shall forget what she con-
siders her due! Now, there are feelings
that betray themselves by a certain rigid
ity of face, a forced fixity of interest; the
latter struck me in Mrs. Van Gorden
while spoke of Henry Brown.
do you know him?' asked suddenly.
She put her hand to her throat as if q
little choked. laughed, gave quizzical
look, and said:
Him? know six Henry Browns"
"You could not mistake this one. He
is a man of the most tortuous mind, with
whom argument consists of a series OF
escapes into fresh holes in the ground
whence he will peep with strange, sat
urnine glee Of his own and shift as soon
as hard pressed He was admirably edu
Gated in some Jesuit college or other sc
far as concerns the classics and what the
old pedagogues used to call dialectics; but
all science is dead wall to his mind
He has a mania, however, for inveighine
against science. and as he would rather
die than read scientific book, his re
marks are extremely picturesque, | car
tell you
n IL h.
quoth Gordon. "What do you say
Edith?'
"Ye-es Some day or other, when it.
quite convenient. But you know how
full the engagement book is just now"
"I've told you one side of him, ~ | con
tinued; ''here's another. He is Catholic
you know, but, should fancy, not a pro
Tossing or strict Catholic And you woult
not be his friend long before You would b,
surprised at finding yourself the subjec
of insidious attacks as a Protestant. Tha
stage would be followed by an aggressive
campaign intended to make you join tn
Roman church! The comic part is tina
he can't bear priests himself and, reall
believe, never goes near church,
Gorden glanced trifle uneasily at hi
wife as 1 said this, and l remembers,
having heard something about Mrs. Val
Gordon to the effect that she once joinet
the Catholics, or had at any rate coquette
with Rome. She changed the subjec
rather abruptly, as if she had heard quit
enough Of painter and picture.
The truth was that little was known q
Mrs. Van Gorden's early life She wa
supposed to come from Buffalo or othe
town which the true limited New Yor
person regards hazily as in tho west. tn
stoutest scandal searcher was rebuffed b
her easy, smiling parties to the more G
less brutal questions that were put regard
ing her family and antecedents. l onl
once heard an allusion made by her to he
life before marriage, and that was In tn
nature Of an unguarded outbreak when
rallied her on an intense look Of devotio
she directed toward GorCAen. 1t was lik
the breaking Of cool bed of lava:
''That mani You little know my cor
dition, what I was, what meant to d.
when that man saved me, made me
created me again. worship him. If b
died I should not live"
1 was scared, but strengthened, at sue
q flash as that; but SHE, scared and HI
inflated. Poor Gordon Is dead and hi
widow lives; but you need not suppos
that she was posing or meant nothing
No, she has learned that it is nobler I
i've on for others than to allow herself {
waste away because her mate is gone
The next day heard Henry Brown
tap 1t my door, and he came in with Il
stSalthy tread habitual 10 him and ths
manner Of being surprised to find me &
home which Is one Of his oddnesses. b
6llsd . pipe and took his seat as usual b
fore the IRE where his eyes could rest o
hia own landsoape Every now and the